Amazon Goes Nuclear On Same Day Delivery With Drone Service

Erika Morphy
, ContributorI write about how companies make money (or should be making money).Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

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Just when you thought the e-commerce versus brick-and-mortar retailing wars couldn’t get any more competitive, there's Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on 60 Minutes explaining his next big thing: he plans to use autonomous drone aircraft to fulfill small orders of five pounds for not just same day delivery—but 30 minutes or less delivery.

The service will be called Prime Air and Bezos hopes to see it in place within five years.

The technology is here Amazon says in a FAQ on the service. It says it will be ready to start commercial operations as soon as the Federal Aviation Administration, which is working on rules for unmanned aerial vehicles, finalizes the necessary regulations.

Given that the government only now just got around to okaying the use of cell phones during flights, it is hard to imagine that regulations for commercial drones will be in place any time soon.

But let's put that aside because in a way it doesn't matter.

Brick-and-mortar retailers have been pushing back against the inroads e-commerce retailers have made in the last decade with a range of measures from their own digital initiatives to redesigning shopping centers to become destination centers – buzzspeak for making the mall as sticky as possible by providing new dinning options, entertainment venues and new types of tenants like community colleges or medical facilities.

But their greatest advantage has been their convenience--people can jump in the car and drive to the mall and get that sweater or T-shirt right then and there--and try it on to boot.